Taunton Mayor Hoye: 'Storm came as advertised'

Much of Taunton lost power due to the blizzard Friday night, but repair crews in the city worked through the storm to fix widespread outages.Taunton residents were among more than 400,000 households in Massachusetts that were without power as of Saturday morning. The Taunton Emergency Management Agency...

Much of Taunton lost power due to the blizzard Friday night, but repair crews in the city worked through the storm to fix widespread outages.

Taunton residents were among more than 400,000 households in Massachusetts that were without power as of Saturday morning. The Taunton Emergency Management Agency announced on Twitter Friday night that the entire city was suffering from a mass power outage.

"The storm came as advertised, there is no doubt about it," said Taunton Mayor Thomas C. Hoye. "Our crews have done a phenomenal job but the work will continue into Sunday and beyond. To residents, please be patient and be safe. Although the driving ban will be lifted, we ask people to stay off the roads."

Going into Sunday, approximately 1,000 of 36,000 households served by the Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant (TMLP) will be without power, the public utility company said. Repair crews are going to be working through Monday to fix the remaining power outages, said TMLP spokesperson Bill Strojny, but most will be solved on Sunday.

The outages have been spread throughout the TMLP coverage area, including Taunton, Raynham, Berkley and North Dighton, Strojny said. Strojny said the TMLP has 25 linesmen repairing outages, but they are going to have to call it quits and take a rest at the end of the day on Saturday.

"It was a doozie of a storm," Strojny said. "The guys we have out there have been working around the clock. They were working in that blizzard. It was incredible. One guy said he had never worked in a storm like that before. He said the snow was like sand pelting your face. They deserve a lot of credit."

The TMLP website was not functional at the time as the power outages spread throughout the entire city on Friday night . Earlier that evening, the website was tracking power outages reported in different neighborhoods throughout Taunton.

But by the morning on Saturday, the TMLP website was back online, showing that outages remain in parts of East Taunton, along with Prospect Hill, Bay Street, Scadding Street, Harvey Street, Lothrop Street, Rocky Knoll and South Crane Avenue. The only other TMLP outages listed on the website Saturday morning was in the Warner Boulevard area in North Dighton.

By 9 a.m. on Saturday, Hoye announced the mass power outage was over but that there continue to be outages scattered throughout the city. Hoye, who was monitoring the city's blizzard response at the Department of Public Works (DPW) on Saturday morning, commended emergency responders, city workers and TMLP employees.

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"My hat is off to all of our crews out there working this storm," Hoye said. "The TMLP fixing outages, the DPW, the Park and Recreation, the Taunton Emergecy Management Agency and of course our police and fire. ... What those guys do is phenomenal. We still have trees that are down and it's going to take time."

The biggest problem for the city's blizzard response has been trees and limbs falling throughout the city, landing on power lines and causing the outages, Hoye said.

"We've had numerous power outages throughout the city along with downed trees. which has hindered the restoration efforts," Hoye said.

The Taunton mayor said that the city was fortunate not to have any blizzard-related tragedies as of Saturday afternoon.

As of 7 a.m. on Saturday, there was 21 inches of snow in Taunton, according to the National Weather Service. After the snowfall slowly gained pace in the afternoon on Friday, Taunton had a foot of snow by 9 p.m., the National Weather Service said, but the snow only picked up from that point and 15.1 inches accumulated in the city by midnight.

DPW workers and plowing contractors were very busy clearing 252 miles of road on Saturday morning, using a total of 77 pieces of equipment, Hoye said.

"We will continue to be vigilant and crews will remain on duty until roads are clear," Hoye said.

City officials said on Saturday afternoon that they realize some streets were not done yet. But they asked residents to be patient, and to report streets that are not plowed by calling 508-821-1431.

While Taunton was quickly able to restore power for most residents, the majority of Rehoboth was without power, according to the National Grid. The utility company reported at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday that 3,796 out of 4,947 customers were affected by the outages.

Taunton city officials said fallen trees and power wires were becoming a problem early on Friday night. The city government was using its Facebook page to urge residents to report down trees by calling 508-821-1415.

"Lots of power outages, and downed trees and branches scattered throughout the city," the city government said in a Facebook message. "Crews are out straight. Please be patient and most importantly safe."

Page 3 of 3 - Hoye also urged residents to check on their elderly neighbors to make sure they are safe as the blizzard came to a conclusion.